A rare issue of John Speed’s map of Staffordshire

John Speed's famous map of Staffordshire, engraved by Jodocus Hondius in 1610 and first published in his county atlas, 'The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain', in 1611-12. The inset plans of Stafford and Lichfield, the title, index key for the plan of Lichfield and text box are with decorative strapwork cartouches. On the reverse is an English text description of the county. This example comes from the Roger Rea issue of the atlas, which was beset with disaster: according to an advert for the 1676 Bassett & Chiswell edition, ''the greatest part of an Impression, then newly Printed, [was] destroyed by the late dreadful Fire, 1666". Surviving examples of any Rea map are thus rare.